Systems including a hub platform and communication network configured for processing data involving time-stamped/time-sensitive aspects and/or other features

ABSTRACT

Systems involving a hub platform and communication network that perform real-time processing of data involving time-stamped/time-sensitive aspects and provide equal access/utilization and/or other features are disclosed. In one example, an illustrative system comprises a hub computer platform and associated computing components configured to generate a plurality of portals, and may include aspects such as automatically updating information on a real-time basis between portals, automatically attaching and/or processing timestamps that are attached to orders upon receipt and acceptance thereof, continuously generating and/or processing information of an order file, generating, continuously updating and/or interactively displaying various tabular and/or graphical information that are based on real-time order file updates, generating other GUI features that, for example, may graphically display and continually update level-of-involvement information, and/or displaying, to investors, information and metrics based on real-time order file updates.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO AND INCORPORATION OF RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 17/389,290, filed Jul.29, 2021, published as US2022/0092692A1, which is a continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 14/340,774, filed Jul. 25, 2014, published asUS2016/0027109A1, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,195,230, issued Dec. 7, 2021, allof which are incorporated herein by reference in entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to methods, processes andsystems to be used within financial markets for the non-partisanmarketing, distribution, pricing and allocation of new issue securitiesin a way that seeks to maximize investor participation. Moreparticularly, the disclosed invention relates to computerized systems,processes and methods for (a) electronically marketing new issuesecurities offerings using a global communications network and usingexisting order rowing networks to gather orders for such offerings aspart of an open and transparent ordering process, and for (b) allocatingand distributing the new issue securities based upon the order receivedduring the marketing period. In certain applications the presentinvention will disclose minimum offering thresholds that the offeringmust meet before investor orders will be confirmed and filled. Thepresent inventive system comprises an independent entity having nocompeting business interests in common with other securities industryconstituents, thereby helping to promote broad participation byinvestors and their broker-dealer advisors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIVE SYSTEM AND METHODOLOGY

The present invention was developed to address the reality that thereare millions of investors—along with their financial advisors—who arecompletely disconnected from the offering process for new issues ofsecurities. This is because the legacy offering methodology does notelicit or reward their interest with allocations, yet the pool ofinvestment capital that can be accessed is enormous by any measure andis of great importance to the capital formation process in general andany issuer seeking to access capital in the public markets.

For decades, new securities issues hove been brought to market throughan underwriting group, led by a lead manager, using at methodologycommonly known as “book building.” The distribution of these newsecurities issues, using the book building methodology, has almostalways favored the lead manager and its investor clients to theexclusion of non-proprietary investor clients whose potential interestin the offerings is not invited and is routinely discarded.

To improve upon the current methodology, a new method and system must,at its core, be fair, be transparent, and be open to the entireinvesting public. While the markets have rebounded from the financialcrisis of 2008, many investors are still unable to participate in thenew issue offering process because of a lack of transparency in andaccess to the book building process, and because market information andbenefits that arise from new offerings are routinely directed to aselect group of entities, many of whom are afforded preferentialconsideration.

The present invention will engage all interested investors in the newissue offering process without regard to which financial advisors theyhave already chosen to do business with. This will be done by applyingwell-tested technology and protocols as an overlay to existingsecurities industry infrastructure—in a new way—that preserves industryincentives and investor protection measures while bringing much higherlevels of transparency to the price discovery and demand discoveryprocesses. The market positioning of the present invention comprising,in part, an independent entity is essential for the successfulelicitation of interest from all investors while identifying andqualifying true market demand and market-derived pricing.

The present invention will provide for the dissemination of informationabout each of the public offerings that are presented by the hub entitywithout restriction and, importantly, the inventive methodology will notallow the independent hub entity to accept any orders from investorsdirectly. Instead, investors will be directed to discuss any presentedoffering with the financial advisor of their choice, thereby preservingsuitability testing and other important investor protection measuresalready in place throughout the securities industry. Moreover, byoffering investors a single resource for information about available newofferings, the present invention will serve as a common calendar for allthe new offerings for which it is engaged to bring to the market.Furthermore, the present invention will offer investors real-timeupdates about indicative pricing and order flow activity, and bydisseminating minimum offering threshold parameters for contingentofferings, investors will be able to evaluate each offering on the basisof its order population (i.e., current demand levels) during themarketing period. This will help neutralize investor concerns about thetiming of their order submission—earlier vs. later in the marketingperiod. These features of the present invention, operating as parts of asingle platform, are expected to assemble a definitive sample of demandfor each new issue offering it is engaged to facilitate, therebybringing long-overdue improvements to this process and renewingwide-spread investor participation that will support the healthy growthof the U.S. capital formation process.

Public trust in the U.S. financial markets is of paramount importance toeveryone, yet tensions between the financial services industry andWashington, D.C. have barely lessened since 2008, and the publicperception of the financial investing industry is at historic lows. Inresponse to these concerns, the Dodd-Frank Act was passed and signedinto law in 2010. It called for stricter regulation of the banking andsecurities industries and for more stringent capital standards,including the “Volcker Rule.” Further, the fact that most of the keyfinancial institutions are now deemed to be “Too Big to Fail” pitssystemic risk concerns and the restraint of adverse incentives againstthe ongoing need for innovation and access to capital to support growthin both the public and private sectors. As further evidence of thispoint, a survey conducted in May of 2014 among senior financial servicesindustry professionals found that 81% of the respondents indicated that“the financial crisis still has a major impact on stakeholderperception.” Survey respondents also cited, among other issues, that“rebuilding trust in the overall financial system” is a critical successfactor in their struggle to restore the industry's reputation.

With respect to one particular segment of the financial market—new issuesecurities offering process—the current pricing and allocation process,known as book-building, has remained the same for decades, yet it hasmany weaknesses and problems inherent in how the process operates.Indeed, the 2012 Facebook initial public offering (“IPO”) refocusedattention on the several shortcomings of new issue book-buildingmethodologies. Notably, in a June 2012 letter to the Chairman of theSecurities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) from Darrell Issa, Chairmanof the House Committee of Government Oversight and Reform, specificquestions and concerns were raised about features of book building asthey were applied in the Facebook IPO. The features mentioned in theletter included institutional investor dominance of allocations, leadmanager discretion as to pricing and allocation, the ability to usenon-market based pricing for a new issue and the incidence ofunder-pricing, and barriers to information being disseminated to thebroader market.

As illustrated in FIG. 1A, current book-building methodology isnon-transparent, with limited public information about the offering,little information provided about the pricing process for the offering,and no real opportunity for the majority of investors to participate ona consistent basis. All marketing information about an offering isfunneled through one entity, the lead manager or lead agent, so theopportunity to take part is typically limited to the lead manager's ownsales organization. Given the control the lead manager has over thebook-building process, there is little incentive for other securitiesfirms to participate or support the offering, so the process ofdetermining an accurate offering price is subject to errors due to thelimited sample of market interest that can be gathered. The offeringprice may also be subject to last minute orders submitted by influentialaccounts. Furthermore, allocations of the offered securities toinvestors are often based on arbitrary factors. Inherently, the leadmanager has relatively broad discretion over which investor interest toinclude or exclude and how much to allocate to each. Moreover, ininstances when the lead manager has its own capital at risk, it may beincentivized to underprice an offering to reduce the risk of loss of itsown capital while creating an upside for certain client investors. Thisunderpricing may result in substantial investment proceeds not beingrealized by the issuer while increasing aftermarket volatility andprompting investors who were shut out of the offering to have to paypotentially higher prices for the same security, along with acommission.

Many market constituents have noted deep concerns about the bookbuilding process of managing new securities issues. In addition to theequity IPO problems that have received wide attention, the publicoffering process in the municipal bond and taxable fixed income marketsare also under regulatory scrutiny. Market regulators have noted how allmarkets would benefit from a more inclusive, transparent process formanaging new issues of securities. To be able to attain these goals,there is a need for enhanced connectivity, for real-time informationdistribution to the investing public, and a need for greatertransparency as the markets seek a broader population of broker-dealersand new pockets of investor capital. It has been expressed that theexpansion of the industry's distribution infrastructure, and thedissemination of new issue offering information to enhance theinvestors' decision process, could remedy many of these concerns.

Certain systems and processes have been developed and implemented inattempts to address some of the above noted issues. For example, theconcept of a “Dutch auction” has been used for distributing certainsecurities. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,647,270 issued to Evelynet al., for a System and Methods for Pricing and Allocation ofCommodities or Securities discloses a “bid mechanism whereby bidders arerewarded for priority of anonymously revealing their bids and provide anallocation of the securities which allows winning bidders to pay asingle market-clearing price that sells out the securities.” The '270patented system and methods also “allow all participants to monitor theauction in real time.” While the '270 patent describes use of a type ofauction process—an open Dutch auction system—whereby the bidders areallocated securities based upon the amount bid and the timing of thebid, the auction system is nonetheless controlled by the issue's leadunderwriter and “auction advisor.” Such a system retains an importantweakness inherent in current market book-built offerings, which is thatit requires investor orders be placed with the lead underwriter firmthat generally determines which orders are filled, while discouragingother securities firms from participating or supporting the offering.

There have also been several examples of auction type formats used fornew issue offerings or IPOs within the past several years. In August2004, Google Inc. completed its IPO using an auction-based offeringformat. While the Google IPO transaction had several problems, it wassuccessful at raising $1.67 billion during a very uneasy marketenvironment. Some of the Google IPO drawbacks were that (a) Googlerequired a time-consuming pro-qualification protocol as a condition forbeing allowed to bid in the IPO; (b) the Google IPO was distributedthrough only a limited syndicate of 28 broker-dealers; and (c) theGoogle IPO lead managers were not deemed to be supportive of a Dutchauction-type process. These issues compromised the execution of theoffering and led to a substantial discount in the offering pricecompared to its price in the aftermarket trading, which is typical inbook-built IPOs. In further resemblance to book-built IPOs, the GoogleIPO experienced heavy first-day trading volume, in which secondarytrading volume exceeded the size of the entire IPO offering. Thispattern of underpricing, followed by heavy first-day trading volume, iscommon among book-built offerings and is clear evidence that suchofferings are placed with investors who are “buying the offering” withthe expectation of quick profits.

Almost three years later, in May of 2007, Interactive Brokers Group,Inc. (“IAB”) completed its IPO also using a Dutch auction-basedprocedure. The IAB IPO, although not as large as Google, was consideredsuccessful and is indicative of the growing acceptance by investors ofauction procedures for new issue securities. The IAB IPO was alsonoteworthy because it was an agency, non-underwritten offering, andthere was less of a pricing discount than would otherwise have beenexpected had the offering been managed as a traditional book-builtoffering. However, the IAB IPO did not provide any mechanism to augmentdemand discovery. Indeed, the Dutch auction mechanism, as used in theGoogle, IAB and other IPOs, while having the laudable objective ofimproving price discovery for new issue offerings, is merely that—aprice discovery mechanism that by itself, and in the hands of anoffering's lead manager, does little to expand investor access andimprove demand discovery.

As a further example of the use of current technology to broadly involvethe public in determining the acceptance and/or value of new ideas,several websites and organizations have been created to providecrowdfunding or crowdsourcing mechanisms. Kickstarter, Indiegogo,Artistshares, Fan Funded, and Rockethub are several current crowdfundingplatforms, with Kickstarter and Indiegogo being the most widely cited.While the basic concept of seeking public input to determine whether anew idea, product, creative output, or service is warranted is notnecessarily a new idea, the detailed implementation of such a conceptinto the Internet with its social media implications is a new idea thathas generated substantial interest and positive results for manycreative works, ideas, innovations and products.

One example of a method and apparatus for crowdsourcing is U.S. Pat. No.7,885,887 issued in 2011 to Carmelio, and assigned to ArtistShare, Inc.,for Methods and Apparatuses For Financing and Marketing A Creative Work.The '887 patent systems and methods are specifically for raisingfinancing and/or revenue by an artist for a project created by theartist. While the '887 patent discloses methods for collecting fundingfor creative products, the patent does not teach any steps or systemsfor providing demand or price discovery relating to financial securitiesor within the investment market. While crowdfunding has generated a lotof excitement as a possible means for gathering capital from the broaderpublic, it exists outside the regulated securities industry environmentand as such its users lack access to the expertise and advice availablefrom trained investment advisors to guide prudent and informedinvestment decisions on the part of the public at large. The JOBS Act,which was passed into law to support crowdfunding in limitedcircumstances, charged the SEC with the development of regulations toprovide appropriate oversight to this process. As of this date, the SEChas yet to issue any draft rules or regulations for public comment.

Accordingly, there is a compelling need for new systems, processes andmethodologies for facilitating the pricing, allocation and distributionof new issue securities offerings that offer appropriate levels oftransparency and access to all investors, that facilitate theapplication of fiduciary and suitability standards testing, and providefor enhanced price discovery along with unique demand discovery tools.The present invention recognizes the drawbacks of the several priorattempts to address some of the weaknesses of the current capitalformation process for new issues, and provides an innovative system,process and methodology incorporating several new and important featuresto address this challenge and several of the flaws inherent in thecurrent methodologies and systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above noted problems inadequately or incompletely resolved by theprior art are addressed and resolved by the present invention.

A preferred aspect of the invention is a computerized method forconducting new issue securities offerings provided by issuing entities,said method operated by a centralized hub entity, and said methodcomprising the steps of (a) publishing new issue securities information,(b) accepting orders for said new issue securities, (c) updating the newissue securities offering information in real-time, (d) providing secureelectronic portals for each of said at least one lead agent, and saidissuing entity to access each entity's respective data and information,(e) upon conclusion of a marketing period, determining an offering pricefor said new issue securities; (f) disseminating said determinedoffering price; (g) calculating allocation information for said newissue securities to be issued for each accepted order, (h) preparing afinal listing of securities allocation information, and (i) transmittingsaid final listing of securities allocation information to said at leastone lead agent for settlement, and to said issuer.

Another preferred aspect of the present invention is a process tomarket, price and allocate new issue securities using an on-line globalcommunications network, comprising a hub entity, at least one issuingentity, a plurality of investors, and at least one lead agent, theprocess steps comprising (a) said hub entity providing real-timeoffering information to said global communications network; (b) said hubentity providing a secure portal for accepting orders on behalf of saidplurality of investors relating to said new issue securities; (c) saidhub entity updating said real-time securities offering information basedon said orders submitted on behalf of said plurality of investors; (d)said hub entity closing an offering link on said on-line portal aftertermination of a marketing period, and after a preselected threshold oforders have been submitted on behalf of said plurality of investors; (e)after termination of said marketing period, said issuing entity and saidat least one lead agent determining an offering price for said new issuesecurities; (t) said hub entity disseminating said determined offeringprice to at least said plurality of investors; (g) said hub entitycalculating allocation information for said new issue securities to beissued for each accepted order, (b) said hub entity providing saidallocation information to said plurality of investors and at least onelead agent based upon a final list of orders submitted on behalf of saidplurality of investors; and (i) said at least one lead agent settlingallocations based upon said submitted orders and based upon said finallisting of orders.

Still another preferred embodiment of the present inventive device is asystem for conducting new issue securities offerings, comprising a hubentity operating a computer processor with associated data memory; atleast one new issue securities issuer, at least one lead agent; aplurality of broker-dealers; and a plurality of investors associatedwith said respective plurality of broker-dealers; wherein said computerprocessor executes process steps comprising (a) providing real-timeoffering information to a global communications network; (b) providingan on-line portal for communication with said plurality ofbroker-dealers for the purpose of accepting orders from said pluralityof broker-dealers submitted on behalf of said respective plurality ofinvestors, relating to said new issue securities; (c) updating saidreal-time securities offering information based on said orders submittedby said plurality of broker-dealers; (d) said hub entity closing anoffering link on said on-line portal after termination of a marketingperiod, and after a preselected threshold of orders have been submittedby said plurality of broker-dealers on behalf of said respectiveinvestors; (e) after termination of said marketing period, said issuingentity and said at least one lead agent determining an offering pricefor said new issue securities; (f) said hub entity disseminating saiddetermined offering price to at least said plurality of investors; (g)said hub entity calculating allocation information for said new issuessecurities for each accepted order, (h) providing said allocationinformation to said plurality of broker-dealers, said plurality ofinvestors and at least one lead agent based upon a final listing oforders submitted by said plurality of broker-dealers; and (i) said atleast one lead agent settling allocations with said plurality ofbroker-dealers based upon said submitted orders and based upon saidfinal listing of orders.

For each of the preferred aspects and preferred embodiments describedabove, a further element of the inventive method and process couldprovide for the acceptance of orders from the plurality ofbroker-dealers using various existing securities order routing networks.

The invention will be best understood by reading the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments in conjunction with thedrawings briefly described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For the purposes of illustrating the invention, the attached drawingsshow several aspects and embodiments that are presently preferred.However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited tothe precise arrangement and instrumentality shown in the accompanyingdrawings.

FIG. 1A: is an illustration of the constituents within prior artbook-building for new issue security offerings;

FIG. 1B: is an illustration of the timeline segments relating to newissue security offerings;

FIG. 2 : is a system flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention showing the primary constituents and communication flow amongsuch constituents;

FIG. 3 : is a partial system flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention showing key constituents and communication flowbetween such constituents;

FIG. 4 : is an example screen shot of the hub entity website showinghome page unrestricted offering information that will be available toall public investors and their financial advisors;

FIG. 5 : is an example screen shot of the hub entity website showing,after proper authentication of the user, information relevant to eachparticipating broker-dealer;

FIG. 6 : is an example screen shot of the hub entity website showing,after proper authentication of the user, information relevant to eachlead agent and issuer of each offering;

FIG. 7A: is an operational flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of thecommencing steps of the marketing period under the inventivemethodology;

FIG. 7B: is a subsequent operational flowchart of an exemplaryembodiment of the steps for conducting the offering auction under theinventive methodology; and

FIG. 7C: is a subsequent operational flowchart of an exemplaryembodiment of the steps for concluding the offering auction under theinventive methodology.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

An innovative system, process and methodology have been designed toaddress the new issue offering methodology problems and issues describedabove which are not addressed by the known prior art. The systemimplements a methodology and process that offers, for multiple marketsectors, a robust new platform and channel to provide for thenon-partisan pricing, allocation and distribution of new issuesecurities. The inventive system has application to new issue securitiesofferings including Exchange-Traded Funds (“ETFs”) and other managedinvestment products, taxable and tax-exempt debt, equity IPOs andfollow-ons, and other similar types of securities offerings.

The general timeline for creating, allocating and distributing new issuesecurities is illustrated in FIG. 1B. The timeline typically has threebasic periods: a pre-marketing period A; a marketing/ordering period B;and the post-marketing period that includes the setting of allocationsand the settlement of the offering C. The inventive system andmethodology operates primarily in time period B, although in someembodiments, the methodology also encompasses operation within timeperiods A and C.

The primary elements or entities included in the inventive systems,methods and processes are illustrated in the FIG. 2 system flow diagram.At the core of the systems, processes and methodologies is the hubentity 100. The hub entity 100 is the information resource for the newissue offerings for institutional investors and the investing public ingeneral. The hub entity 100 also gathers investor orders from thefinancial advisors that the investors do business with, and provides theelectronic platform and channel for demand discovery, price discovery,and transparent, non-partisan new issue pricing, allocation anddistribution.

The hub entity 100 has certain communication links and pathways 11, 12,17, 33, 41 with several of the other entities (respectively the issuer110, lead agent 120, Internet/Cloud 190, and broker-dealers 140) usingor involved with the process and system. More particularly, the primaryentities involved with the system include the issuer 110, who desires tosell new issue securities to the investing public in consideration andreturn for investment capital. The issuer 110 uses one or more lead ormanaging agent(s) 120 who acts as the primary relationship manager withthe issuer 110, and is a key offering advisor and marketing agent forthe issuer 110. More particularly, the lead agent 120 is expected tooversee the pre-offering due diligence and the advisory process with theissuer 110. The lead agent 120 also handles the preparation of theregistration statement and related documents, and prepares any “roadshow” and ancillary marketing materials that may be useful or necessaryto support the offering.

In certain markets, such as the ETF market, the issuer 110 also workswith a market maker 130 to create the new issue securities against thelead agent 120 order list that has been created, and is maintained bythe hub entity 100 as part of the described methodology. In certainother markets, and in other exemplary embodiments, the issuer 110 woulddirectly create the new issue securities after the completion of theoffering.

At the other end of the market spectrum, as shown in FIG. 2 , are theinvestors 150 wishing to invest in the issuer's new offering. In apreferred embodiment, the investors 150 work with their respectivefinancial advisors, who are employees of broker-dealers 140, to placelimit orders for the new issue securities with the hub entity 100.Finally, the hub entity 100 may exchange information with one or moremarket data provider(s) 199 that is relevant to the offerings duringboth the pre-marketing and the marketing periods. Such information fromthe market data provider 199 may include, again in the instance of theETF market, an estimate of the interim net asset value (“iNAV”) that isbased upon the current market value of the securities that underlie thenew ETF offering.

As further shown in FIG. 2 , the connection between the hub entity 100and the investors 150 for providing order submissions is through each ofthe investors' respective broker-dealers 140. There currently areapproximately 650 distinct self-clearing broker-dealers doing businesswith the U.S. public. The inventive system is designed to provide adirect communication link 41 between the hub entity 100 with each of thepotential 650 broker-dealers 140 that desires to and agrees toparticipate in the inventive system. In a preferred embodiment, theinventive system will be able to connect to each of these broker-dealers140 in the same manner that existing stock exchanges are able to connectto broker-dealers for routine secondary market trading order flow. It isimportant to note that such communication channels between the stockexchanges and broker-dealers, used for secondary market trading orders,have never before been used to support or provide for participation innew issue offerings. Accordingly, this feature of the inventivemethodology and system leaves intact all of the internal orderrouting/management protocols that are currently in use. Because the hubentity 100 directly communicates 41 with, and can accept orders from,the full universe of broker-dealers 140, the system provides, ascompared to the current book-building system, an open platform for theentire investing public to have access to new issue offerings.

While order submissions cannot be made directly by an investor 150 tothe hub entity 100, there are at least two channels of communication,and information flow from the hub entity 100 to the investor community150. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the hub entity 100 publishesvarious offering information to the general public through its website330, and also provides order management messaging and actions throughits order routing network 41 to the investors' 150 broker-dealers 140.Such information is, in part, presented to the investor community 150with unrestricted access.

According to preferred embodiments, each broker-dealer 140 communicates45 with and receives 45 order information from its respective investors150 for the new issue offerings being presented by the hub entity 100.After receipt 45 of the investors' order information, the broker-dealer140 confirms 45 back to the respective investor 150 the investor's orderinformation. Because the hub entity 100 will not interfere with therelationships between the broker-dealers 140 and their respectiveinvestor clients 150, the broker-dealers will continue, as part of theirrelationship management with their clients, to provide periodiccommunications 45 with their client investors 150, in order to manageorder prices and eligibility for order execution, and to ensuresufficient cash or equity is available in each investors' account tocomplete and settle the order executions should the new issue offeringachieve its stated minimum required funding levels. It is also expectedthat, similar to their current relationship management, thebroker-dealers 140 will perform suitability, appropriateness andcustomer knowledge reviews of each investor 150 prior to accepting anysuch orders from any particular investor clients 150.

After receipt of the orders from its investors 150, each broker-dealer140 then communicates 41 such order information to the hub entity 100 inthe form of limit orders. The submitted information includes, as shownin FIG. 3 , the limit orders 50 for the desired securities, comprising,in exemplary embodiments, the number of shares/units/bonds ordered byeach investor 150 at the maximum acceptable price levels. Such orderinformation must also specify the investor's account number and theoriginating branch office and respective financial advisor identifiers.

The hub entity collects the plurality of limit orders 50 in an orderlist for the offering, and confirms back to the respective broker-dealer140 the limit orders 50 placed with each broker-dealer 140 for eachinvestor 150. In an exemplary embodiment, the hub entity 100communicates with each broker-dealer 140 for order submission, and forsubsequent information of the status of the orders placed, usingFinancial Information eXchange (“FIX”) protocols. Such communicationsbetween the hub entity 100 and the broker-dealers 140 allow forappropriate consistent interface with the broker-dealer order routingnetworks that are in use today.

The hub entity 100 will also advise the broker-dealer(s) 140 which ofthe orders received from the broker-dealer 140 are, or are not,executable based upon the then current calculated iNAV or otherindicative reference price such as a coupon/interest rate or price pershare. Further, the hub entity 100 will be able to communicate to eachbroker-dealer 140 certain relevant analytics relating to the orders 50submitted by the broker-dealer. Such analytics, in some embodiments, mayinclude the broker-dealers' orders as a percentage of all ordersreceived and holders for each offering. The hub entity 100 will furtherdisclose to the broker-dealers 140 the selling fee to be paid per shareor per unit of the new security based upon the anticipated execution ofall eligible orders 50. In an exemplary embodiment, certain of theinformation provided by the hub entity 100 to the broker-dealers 140 maybe secured with limited access through, for example, apassword-protected link to a limited access information page.

As described above, the investors 150 are required to communicatedirectly with their respective broker-dealers 140, and not the hubentity 100. More specifically, the hub entity 100 will not accept ordersdirectly from any of the individual investors 150 thereby preserving theexisting relationships in place between the investors 150 and thebroker-dealers 140. While the hub entity 100 will not accept ordersdirectly from investors 150, the hub entity 100 will, as shown in FIG. 3, still have a public communication link with the investing public 150through the Cloud 190 and through the hub entity website 330. The hubentity 100 will use the Cloud 190 to provide general offeringinformation to the investors 150, to assist them in reaching an informedinvestment decision in consultation with their broker-dealers 140.

More particularly, with respect to an embodiment of the hub entitywebsite 330, as shown in the FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 example screenshots, thehub entity 100, through its website 330, or by directly uploading 17 tothe Cloud 190, can provide certain offering information throughunrestricted access to all investors 150, broker-dealers 140, leadagents 120, investment banks, market makers 130, issuers 110, and marketdata providers 199. The available information uploaded 17 by the hubentity 100 to the Cloud 190, may include a listing of open and closedofferings; real-time offering data for each open offering; links tooffering-related information including the final prospectus for eachoffering; third party market commentary and analytics; links to theissuers' website; and other similar resources and information.

In other exemplary embodiments, also shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 , thehub entity 100 will publish on its website 330 detailed content andgraphical information of all offerings currently being marketed, as wellas a listing of expected future hub entity offerings. Such a displayprovides a “common calendar” of new issues intending to go to market,along with the dates for the anticipated closing of each offering. Thehub entity 100 will also publish to the Cloud 190 any issuer 110mandates, conditions or requirements relating to the offering sizeand/or number of holders.

As further shown in the example screen shot of FIG. 5 , the hub entity100 can provide through its website 330 specific administrativeinformation for each participating broker-dealer 140, including alisting of the offerings to which the broker-dealer 140 has submitted atleast one investor order. Also illustrated in FIG. 5 is an example ofhow the hub entity 100 can provide certain analytics and statistics toeach broker-dealer, showing the level of involvement of thebroker-dealer 140 in each specific offering. This same webpage couldprovide a means for the broker-dealer to cancel or amend individualorders for particular offerings, or indeed to suspend all orders for allofferings, as shown by the red button located at the lower right handcorner of the FIG. 5 example webpage.

Similarly, the hub entity 100 can provide a specific webpage withrelevant data and information for each offering's lead agent(s) 120, asshown in the example screen shot of FIG. 6 . This page, controlled andpublished by the hub entity 100, would show the offerings in which thelead agent 120 is the lead agent, in addition to further detailedinformation specifically relevant to that particular lead agent 120.Further detailed offering data and information could also be presentedfor lead agents to use. By way of one example, as shown on FIG. 6 (lowerright hand corner), the hub entity could provide real-time graphicaldata of the level of orders at each particular offering price, alongwith the intended threshold of capital amount and number of shares. Withsuch a graphical presentation, the lead agent 120 can readily see theoffering's total share value and other order metrics at which theintended threshold of capital and/or number of desired shareholders willbe met.

In some embodiments, the hub entity 100 will also have a link 12 to andprovide detailed information to the issuer's lead agent 120, includingthe status of all orders for the offering(s) being managed by the leadagent 120. In exemplary embodiments, the hub entity 100 can also providesummary information to the lead agent 120 relating to each broker-dealer140, including the number of shares or units or bonds ordered, as wellas the number of holders represented by each respective broker-dealerorder. The hub entity 100 is also able to provide to the lead agent 120a picture of the global demand for the offering at each price levelrepresented in the then current order file maintained by the hub entity100.

As also shown in FIG. 2 , the hub entity 100 will have a communicationslink 11 with the issuer 110. In exemplary embodiments, the hub entitywill be able to provide to the issuer 110 full information and status ofthe orders placed by the full pool of participating broker-dealers 140.The hub entity 100 will also be able to provide to the issuer 110certain price sensitivity information showing the investors' demand forthe offering at specific price levels and the resulting size of the bookof orders. As part of the communication from the issuer 110 to the hubentity, the issuer 110 will provide to the hub entity 100 minimumoffering parameters, which may include a minimum number of holders, aminimum dollar amount raised, or other relevant metrics that will bedisseminated to the investor community through the hub entity's 100website 330.

As a means for the public to generally discover the scope and workingsof the present invention system and methodology, the hub entity 100 willalso provide links from its website 330 to various tutorials describingthe present invention's system, process and methodology, while alsoincluding various links to relevant investor reference information.

In some exemplary embodiments, the hub entity 100 may alsoelectronically provide offering and road show materials to the market atlarge via the Internet by employing links from or to the websitesoperated by one or more of the issuer 110, the lead agent/securitiesfirm 120, the SEC's link to EDGAR (or EMMA for municipal securities),and/or third-party providers of analytics and market commentary. Withsuch readily linked information, investors will have a wealth ofinformation for immediate review to assist in deciding whether to investin one or more of new issue offerings presented by the hub entity 100.

The market data provider (or exchange) 199 shown in FIG. 2 has a role inthe inventive system to calculate certain asset value information, and arole in the post-marketing period once secondary trading commences. Asshown in FIG. 2 , during the marketing period the hub entity 100communicates 33 with the market data provider 199 to provide the marketdata provider with the specifications for the required data resources.The market data provider 199 uses the specifications to calculate thedata resources that are disseminated on the hub entity's 100 website330. In exemplary embodiments, it is expected that the market dataprovider 199 will update the iNAV or other indicative reference metricson a set time frame interval of every 15 seconds, although other updatetime frames may be implemented or used by the hub entity 100.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the marketing process of an offeringusing the inventive system and methodology will strive to target thepricing range specified in the SEC filing for the public offering.Towards this goal, a summary profile of investor orders 50 received willbe broadly disseminated and updated on a real-time basis by the hubentity 100 during the marketing period. This marketing effort willencompass the lead manager's internal sales efforts as well as otherefforts to raise the offering's visibility to the market at large. Sincethe lead manager/agent 120 will have unique insight into the features ofthe issuer's 110 offering, as noted above, the lead agent 120 willlikely become the primary contact point for interested institutionalinvestors 150 while still allowing all other participating firms andtheir clients to achieve equal access to information through the hubentity 100 and to the offering. This equal access to all investors 150and participating broker-dealer firms 140 is a key advantage of theinventive system, process and methodology.

While the lead manager/agent 120 and the issuer 110 will have access tosummary order data in the hub entity 100 order file on a real-time basisduring the marketing period, other firms will not have direct access tothe same level of information about the offering. Instead, the non-leadbroker-dealers 140 will only have access to all individual orders 50submitted by their own financial advisors to monitor their own orderflow for compliance, sales management and syndicate accounting purposes.

At the time that the marketing period is to be closed, the system alsoprovides a mechanism for the hub entity 100 to commence the closingprocess based upon a consensus decision to do so being reached throughcollaboration between the lead manager/agent 120 and the issuer 110.More particularly, for any offering that has reached or exceeded theissuer's 110 offering criteria, the hub entity 100 will announce on itswebsite 330 that the order period will close at a specific time. At thattime, the hub entity 100 closes the marketing period for the offeringand, through review of the order file, collects and finalizes all orders50 submitted by the investors 150 through their respectivebroker-dealers 140. The hub entity 100 then provides to the leadmanager/agent 120 the detailed settlement information for allbroker-dealers 140 that have placed eligible orders for the offering tofacilitate the remittance of correct settlement amounts to the leadmanager/agent 120 in exchange for the delivery via book entry of theoffering's securities to each participating broker-dealer 120.

For non-ETF market applications, once the marketing period is closed andthe hub entity 100 finalizes the submitted limit orders 50, theallocation of securities in such an offering will be made pursuant to anauction model that gives preference to orders based upon price or someother disclosed methodology. To reward the early placement of orders,the hub entity 100 may specify on its website 330 that orders placedduring a specific time frame will be eligible for higher fill rates. Ifan early time preference is featured for any offering, the orders 50that are placed during the open time window, and which are deemedcompetitive based upon price, will be allocated a greater percentage orproportion of their order 50 amount than orders that are placed outsideof that time window. In some embodiments, order fill rates may also varyaccording to their specified prices. By way of example, the higher theorder price, or the lower the interest rate, the greater the allocationpreference to that investor.

The “clearing price,” or the price at which all offered securities canbe fully subscribed for and sold, will be determined by the hub entity100, the lead manager/agent 120 and the issuer 110 using thecomprehensive information about market demand for the new offering asgathered by the hub entity 100 during the marketing period. The issuer110 and the lead manager/agent 120 will reserve the ability, in theirdiscretion, to choose an offering price that is more attractive forinvestors than the “clearing price.” This discretion to select anoffering price is an element of some embodiments notwithstanding thatthe closing price shall be the same for all investors 150 whose ordersare qualified to be filled. The hub entity 100 can also exclude anyorder 50, investor account 150 or broker-dealer 140 that the hub entity100 determines is disruptive or unreliable.

As described above, the three features of the inventive system andmethodology are: (1) a well-articulated auction methodology; (2)electronic connectivity with all broker-dealers doing business with thepublic, coupled with the ability to broadcast real-time offering dataover the Internet during the marketing period; and (3) true independencewithin the securities industry. The combination of the hub entity's 100three core features establishes a new bargain with investors unlikecurrent methodologies and systems, investors in the hub entity's 100offerings will receive allocations based solely on the prices they arewilling to bid.

The inventive systems and methodologies have certain attributes andfeatures similar to current crowdsourcing systems. However, the presentinvention is distinct and requires participating investors to haveaccounts with broker-dealers to preserve the investor protectionbenefits that are part of the regulated industry environment. Moreparticularly, the present invention provides an electronic system andplatform for issuers 110 to present new issue securities offerings tothe investor public 150 in order to determine the level of investorinterest in the offering. Moreover, the present invention also providesa transparent and non-partisan methodology for the market to establishan appropriate offering price (price discovery), as well as a level ofinvestor interest (demand discovery) for the new issue securities. Suchsystems and methodologies do not exist in today's market.

A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE OPERATION OF THE METHODOLOGY

The inventive system implements a process and methodology, in anexemplary embodiment, that operates according to the steps as shown inFIGS. 7A through 7C. More particularly, starting with FIG. 7A, in thecase of an ETF, after the issuer 110 receives 710 SEC approval of theoffering prospectus, the marketing period can commence. At this time,the lead agent 120 is able to launch 720 the marketing effort for thenew issue offering by announcing and distributing relevant offeringinformation. The hub entity 100 also publishes offering documents andinformation, including the offering time window for the marketingperiod, through the hub entity's website 330 and relatedtechnology/media. The offering information published by the hub entity100 at this time would also include references and electronic links tothe offering documents, the timetable for the offering, other relevantoffering details, and standard and appropriate offering disclaimers.

Next, the hub entity 100 would electronically transmit 730 an invitationto the full broker-dealer community 140 providing high-level detailsabout the offering and providing an electronic link to the offeringdocuments. As part of any offering announcement, the hub entity 100would describe the relevant features of the offering/auction protocols,which could include:

(a) the requirement that any investor 150 consult with their ownfinancial advisor—who would be an employee of a broker-dealer 140—aboutthe offering;

(b) that final offering securities allocations are to be based upon theprices of the orders submitted by the pool of investors 150, which shallbe in the form of limit orders that specify the maximum price that theinvestor is willing to pay;

(c) that once orders are submitted by the investors 150, such orderswill be deemed to be “good-'til-cancelled” (or GTC) orders unless either(i) the offering price falls outside previously disclosed parameters, or(ii) the hub entity 100 receives a cancellation notice from theinvestor's respective broker-dealer 140 prior to the deadline forsubmitting such cancellation notices;

(d) that the hub entity 100 may allocate securities on a pro-rata basisor some other disclosed methodology if demand for an offering exceedsthe offering size at the final determined offering price;

(e) that the hub entity 100 reserves the right to exclude any order itreasonably deems to be manipulative or unreliable; and

(f) the maximum amount for which any one investor 150 may bid. By way ofexemplary embodiment, such maximum amount may be up to 5.0% of the totaloffering size. The maximum percentage will typically be determined bythe issuer 110 in close consultation with the lead agent 120 and the hubentity 100.

The hub entity 100, along with the lead agent 120 and the issuer 110collectively establish 740 the timing and duration of the marketingperiod. At this time, the hub entity 100 announces details of theoffering to the broker-dealer community 140, as well as to appropriatemedia outlets and financial websites, with the goal of broad informationdissemination to the investor community 150. In exemplary embodiments,the media outlets and financial websites could include the Wall StreetJournal, New York Times, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Financial Times,Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, and other media outlets.

The broker-dealers 140 then communicate and work 750 with theirrespective clients and investors 150 to determine any order requestsfrom their respective investors. Importantly, all orders from thebroker-dealers 140 must be individually sent to the hub entity 100.Collection or bundling of investor orders by the broker-dealers 140 willnot be permitted because the purpose of the inventive methodology andsystem is to provide equal access to its offerings to all investors.Similarly, all orders made by the lead manager 120 are to be sent to thehub entity 100 individually and, consequently, cannot be bundled.

In a preferred embodiment, offering orders may be submitted 760 to thehub entity 100 by (i) a broker-dealer 140 financial advisor through thebroker-dealer electronic order routing system, or (ii) by the financialadvisor to the broker-dealer syndicate or relevant trading desk viatelephone or email. It is important that the broker-dealers 140establish order record protocols with their respective financialadvisors for order routing to prevent duplication of orders. Aspreviously described, bids or orders may not be submitted by anyinvestors 150 directly to the hub entity 100. All orders must be from abroker-dealer.

For an order to be accepted 810 by the hub entity 100, it must indicatethe price and quantity for each specific bid. In that regard, if aninvestor 150 wishes to submit bids at multiple price points, each suchbid must be entered separately. If there is more than one order at orabove the eventual offering price, then all such investor 150 orders areaggregated by the hub entity 100 for acceptance and offering allocation.

As shown in FIG. 7B, upon receipt of and acceptance by the hub entity100, all orders are automatically 820 time stamped, indicate theoriginating broker-dealer 140 having identifiers for the originatingbranch office and financial advisor, and are added to the hub entity'scentral order book for the relevant offering at the relevant pricelevel.

So long as such orders meet all regulatory and compliance standards,broker-dealers 140 may also submit orders for their own account. Toensure complete disclosure, all such broker-dealer “own account” ordersare to be identified and marked “as principal” or with some othersimilar identifier. Moreover, no such broker-dealer orders will befilled prior to any orders submitted at the same price by thebroker-dealer 140 as an agent on behalf of its public investors 150.

As described above, with reference to FIG. 2 , during the marketingperiod, each of the broker-dealers 140 that have submitted acceptableoffering orders will have on-line access to their respective offeringsummary information and order file. More to the point, to ensureappropriate confidentiality, the originating broker-dealers 140 onlyhave access to their respective submitted orders. Such secureinformation will show all order activity originating from thatbroker-dealer firm 140, but will not show any information or individualorder activity for any other broker-dealers.

During the marketing period, the hub entity 100 will post certainoffering-related information through its website 330. Within the hubentity website 330, each offering will have its own dedicated web pagesto provide relevant information to the public, with certain of theoffering information being updated 830 in real-time. Such relevantpublic offering information may, in exemplary embodiments, include the(a) total number of offering units subscribed for and the total numberof holders represented by these orders, (b) price range for 95% of theorders already submitted, and (c) time remaining in the marketing periodfor that offering.

At the end of the marketing period, when the offering achieves 840 theissuer's preselected minimum criteria, the lead agent 120 in conjunctionwith the hub entity 100 posts 850 a notice that the order period hasended. In alternative preferred embodiments, the hub entity 100 couldalso publish “pre-closing” notices prior to the end of the order period.The hub entity 100 then determines the clearing price at which all thesecurities being offered can be sold. Further, for the issuer 110 andlead agent 120 analytics purposes, the hub entity 100 may construct andpublish, in the hub entity's central order file, a sensitivity analysisshowing investor demand at each price increment above and below theclearing price. The hub entity 100 will share the post marketing periodcalculations and analytics with the lead manager 120 and issuer 110 assoon as practicable after the close of the marketing period.

As suggested above, there may be significant demand for some offeringssuch that there may be a desire or incentive to increase the size of theoffering during the marketing period. If the lead manager 120 and theissuer 110 decide to do this, the marketing period deadline, in someembodiments, may need to be extended to allow for the filing of related,amended offering documents and the dissemination of the new offeringsize and to gauge market reaction.

After the close of the marketing period, as shown in FIG. 7C, the finaloffering size and the clearing price are set 910 as a function of thelimit order 50 data collected by the hub entity 100. Thereafter, in anexemplary embodiment of the methodology, the issuer 110 and lead agent120 determine 920 the final offering price. Because the clearing priceis determined to ensure that all securities being offered are sold, thefinal offering price may be lower than the clearing price, therebysetting demand for more securities in excess of the identified quantity.The offering price should not be set higher than the clearing price,because such a price would result in an incomplete sale of the offeredsecurities.

The calculated clearing price and determined offering price are thendisseminated or published to the investor community through the hubentity 100 website 330 and through use of the same media outlets andfinancial websites as described above, including again, by way ofexample the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, ThomsonReuters, Financial Times, Yahoo Finance, and Google Finance. Additionalinformation that may be disseminated at the same time includes (a) thetotal number of bids and amount of securities that were bid for at eachprice level, (b) the total number of bids and amount of securities bidfor at or above the final offering price, and (c) the number oforiginating broker-dealers.

After the close of the marketing period, the hub entity 100 willcalculate 930 all offering allocations on a per-order basis and willtransmit confirmations to each of the originating broker-dealers 140along with settlement instructions and accounting information. The hubentity 100 will also furnish 940 the lead agent 120 with an electronicfile having the specific settlement and accounting information for eachbroker-dealer 140, or on a per-broker-dealer basis. It is expected thateach participating broker-dealer 140 will confirm their respectivesettlement data with the lead agent/manager 120 on the same business daythat the offering allocations are transmitted.

The lead agent 120 will then cause the final offering documents to bedistributed 950 to all participating broker-dealers 140, who in turnwill transmit such documentation to each of their respective investors150 who are to receive allocations of the offering based upon the ordersof each investor. The lead agent 120 will then settle 960 with allbroker-dealers 140 using the offering price as published on the hubentity 100 website 330. It is expected that settlement 970 with theissuer 110 will occur with the lead manager 120 on the same business daythat settlement occurs with all allocations against payment fromparticipating broker-dealers 140. After settlement occurs, in apreferred embodiment, the market maker is able to create 980 the newoffering units. Finally, within two to five business days of thesettlement of offering allocations with the investors 150, secondarytrading of the offering securities is then expected to commence 990 onan identified exchange.

In some embodiments, for any offering that appears on the hub entity 100website 330, the issuer 110 may require that there be a minimum amountof securities sold or a minimum number of holders in the hub entity 100order file before the offering can be priced and closed. If this featureis part of an offering, it will be disclosed to the market as part ofthe commencement of marketing 740 the offering. In this embodiment ofthe present invention, investors 150 will only have their accountsdebited by their broker-dealers 140 if and when the issuer's 110 minimumoffering criteria have been met. Settlement for any offering 970 willfollow standard protocols with the lead manager/agent 120 coordinatingdirectly with the each broker-dealer 140 using data provided by the hubentity 100.

As shown in FIG. 1B (segment A), in some embodiments, where such priorinformation is appropriate, the marketing period may begin with an earlyorder sub-period during which orders that are submitted in thatsub-period may be eligible for higher till rates if they are submittedat prices that meet or exceed the eventual clearing price for theoffering. Such pre-market period orders, and the ability to receivehigher fill rates will be publicly disseminated by the hub entity 100 onits website 330, or other public media, prior to the opening of thepre-marketing period.

In cases when the marketing period and order window unfolds as expected,and as described above, when the issuer's offering criteria levels areachieved, the offering order window is closed in an expected predictablefashion. However, should unexpected events arise, or certain marketturbulence develop, in some embodiments, the hub entity 100 will also beable to suspend all orders for a broker-dealer 140, or for the entireoffering. The hub entity 100 will so advise the broker-dealer orbroker-dealers 140 of such action during any such periods of marketturbulence or where events necessitate such order suspension.

While preferred embodiments of the inventive methods and systems havebeen described and disclosed, in particular for certain figures andexemplary embodiments relating to securities, including ETFs, such newissue securities are not to be construed as limiting the scope ofapplication of the inventive systems, processes, and methodologies. Moreparticularly, in addition to ETFs, other new issue offerings, includingwithout limitation, taxable and tax-exempt debt, equity IPOs and othersimilar types of new issue securities offerings may also use theinventive systems, processes, and methodologies. By way of one example,in another specific embodiment, the inventive methods and systems may beapplied to secondary market trading in instances where the hub entity100 can improve market liquidity by allowing investors, through theirbroker-dealers, to offer all or part of their investment holdings toother investors. The hub entity 100 would act as a matching platform andfacilitate settlement in exchange for a fee. In another embodiment, thelead agent, or a lead agent 120 could also operate as the hub entity100, instead of having distinct business entities operating as the leadagent 120 and hub entity 100.

It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that othermodifications, substitutions, and/or other applications are possible andsuch modifications, substitutions and applications are within the truescope and spirit of the present invention. It is likewise understoodthat the attached claims are intended to cover all such modifications,substitutions, and/or applications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a hub entity computer platform configured to electronically conduct one or more new issue securities offerings comprising at least one initial or follow-on equity securities offering, the computer platform comprising at least one processor and non-transitory computer readable media, the non-transitory computer readable media including computer-readable program instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations; and a communication network in operative communication with the computer platform; wherein the operations comprise: generating a plurality of portals including a first portal provided to at least one electronic order routing and management system associated with one or more broker-dealers and a second portal provided to at least one computer associated with at least one lead agent; wherein a lead agent portal is provided, via the second portal, during marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings; and wherein the one or more broker-dealers, via the computer platform, subscribe to engage in brokering the one or more new issue securities offerings using a broker-dealer portal; receiving, at the computer platform in real-time during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, one or more orders associated with one or more investors regarding the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the one or more orders comprise one or more of a new order, an order amendment and/or an order cancellation; attaching, by the computer platform, automatically upon receipt of the one or more orders by the computer platform, timestamp information regarding each of a plurality of orders received at the computer platform; confirming, by the computer platform, whether or not each of the one or more orders is acceptable for further processing by the computer platform as accepted orders; updating an order file with the accepted orders, wherein the order file contains information regarding orders processed by the computer platform, the orders processed by the computer platform being associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings; providing the lead agent portal to the at least one computer associated with the at least one lead agent, wherein the computer platform generates and transmits information that causes the at least one computer associated with the at least one lead agent to display a first graphical user interface (first GUI) including: at least one order depth table corresponding to an associated new issue securities offering of the one or more new issue securities offerings, the at least one order depth table being continually updated via information transmitted from the computer platform based on real-time updates of the accepted orders; wherein, for a plurality of price levels, the at least one order depth table comprises data fields including one or both of limit prices and/or cumulative number of shares; and wherein the lead agent portal provides price sensitivity information indicating investor demand, at specific price levels, for the associated new issue securities offering; providing an informational portal, in the plurality of portals, to a general public for publishing, based on real-time updates of the accepted orders, offering information regarding the one or more new issue securities offerings including the associated new issue securities offering, the offering information comprising at least one of an offering name and current indicative pricing; wherein the current indicative pricing is market-derived pricing, derived from information contained in the at least one order depth table and/or the order file that are updated in real-time based on the accepted orders, such that the current indicative pricing thereby reflects current demand during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings; responsive to real-time processing of the accepted orders, continually updating the order file and/or the at least one order depth table, and publishing updates of the current indicative pricing, based on the continually updating, at the broker-dealer portal, the lead agent portal and the informational portal, until marketing of the associated new issue securities offering concludes; wherein said publishing of the offering information including the current indicative pricing, based on the continually updating, reflects current market pricing and current market value, to thereby publish demand discovery information and the current indicative pricing to the general public via the informational portal; determining, by the computer platform, for at least one new issue securities offering of the one or more new issue securities offerings, subsequent to termination of marketing of the at least one new issue securities offering, and during closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, a clearing price and/or an offering size of the at least one new issue securities offering; establishing an offering price of the at least one new issue securities offering, either by setting the offering price based on the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent; disseminating the offering price, of the at least one new issue securities offering, to the one or more broker-dealers, and to the general public through the informational portal; generating, for the accepted orders associated with said at least one new issue securities offering, on a per-order basis, allocation information for said at least one new issue securities offering; generating, one or more final listings of securities allocation information based on the allocation information; and providing at least one of the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings as output.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one of an initial or follow-on security offering includes one or more of: equity IPOs, follow-ons, and/or equity offerings.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein, the operations further comprise: performing demand discovery, including establishing a level of investor interest for the associated new issue securities offering, at the specific price levels, by continually and automatically generating information, in real-time by the computer platform, to update the at least one order depth table's fields for cumulative number of shares, at the plurality of price levels.
 4. The system of claim 2 wherein the operations further comprise: performing price discovery, including establishing a market-derived offer price associated with the associated new issue securities offering via identifying, based on the continually updating by the computer platform, the current indicative pricing of the associated new issue securities offering, continually publishing updates of the current indicative pricing, and subsequently, during closing of the associated new issue securities offering, determining an associated clearing price for setting the market-derived offer price, based on the associated clearing price.
 5. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer platform provides the lead agent portal to one or more lead or managing agents that manage an issuer's offering, act as an advisor and/or act as a marketing agent, wherein the at least one lead agent is one of the one or more lead or managing agents.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein the allocation information generated on the per-order basis is generated based on one or more of: an order price, an order time, an order size, and/or a pro-rata basis.
 7. The system of claim 2 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 8. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 9. The system of claim 2 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 10. The system of claim 2 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 11. The system of claim 10 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 12. The system of claim 2 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 13. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 14. The system of claim 2, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 15. The system of claim 2, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 16. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 17. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 18. The system of claim 2 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 19. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 20. The system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 21. The system of claim 2, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 22. The system of claim 2, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 23. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 24. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: performing demand discovery, including establishing a level of investor interest for the associated new issue securities offering, at the specific price levels, by continually and automatically generating information, in real-time by the computer platform, to update the at least one order depth table's fields for cumulative number of shares, at the plurality of price levels.
 25. The system of claim 24 wherein the operations further comprise: performing price discovery, including establishing a market-derived offer price associated with the associated new issue securities offering via identifying, based on the continually updating by the computer platform, the current indicative pricing of the associated new issue securities offering, continually publishing updates of the current indicative pricing, and subsequently, during closing of the associated new issue securities offering, determining an associated clearing price for setting the market-derived offer price, based on the associated clearing price.
 26. The system of claim 24, wherein the computer platform provides the lead agent portal to one or more lead or managing agents that manage an issuer's offering, act as an advisor and/or act as a marketing agent, wherein the at least one lead agent is one of the one or more lead or managing agents.
 27. The system of claim 24, wherein the allocation information generated on the per-order basis is generated based on one or more of: an order price, an order time, an order size, and/or a pro-rata basis.
 28. The system of claim 24 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 29. The system of claim 24, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 30. The system of claim 24 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 31. The system of claim 24 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 32. The system of claim 31 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 33. The system of claim 24 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 34. The system of claim 24, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 35. The system of claim 24, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 36. The system of claim 24, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 37. The system of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 38. The system of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 39. The system of claim 24 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 40. The system of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 41. The system of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 42. The system of claim 24, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 43. The system of claim 24, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 44. The system of claim 24, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 45. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: performing price discovery, including establishing a market-derived offer price associated with the associated new issue securities offering via identifying, based on the continually updating by the computer platform, the current indicative pricing of the associated new issue securities offering, continually publishing updates of the current indicative pricing, and subsequently, during closing of the associated new issue securities offering, determining an associated clearing price for setting the market-derived offer price, based on the associated clearing price.
 46. The system of claim 45, wherein the computer platform provides the lead agent portal to one or more lead or managing agents that manage an issuer's offering, act as an advisor and/or act as a marketing agent, wherein the at least one lead agent is one of the one or more lead or managing agents.
 47. The system of claim 45, wherein the allocation information generated on the per-order basis is generated based on one or more of: an order price, an order time, an order size, and/or a pro-rata basis.
 48. The system of claim 45 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 49. The system of claim 45, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 50. The system of claim 45 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 51. The system of claim 45 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system; such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 52. The system of claim 51 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 53. The system of claim 45 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 54. The system of claim 45, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 55. The system of claim 45, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 56. The system of claim 45, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 57. The system of claim 45, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 58. The system of claim 45, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 59. The system of claim 45 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 60. The system of claim 45, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 61. The system of claim 45, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 62. The system of claim 45, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 63. The system of claim 45, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 64. The system of claim 45, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 65. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer platform provides the lead agent portal to one or more lead or managing agents that manage an issuer's offering, act as an advisor and/or act as a marketing agent, wherein the at least one lead agent is one of the one or more lead or managing agents.
 66. The system of claim 65, wherein the allocation information generated on the per-order basis is generated based on one or more of: an order price, an order time, an order size, and/or a pro-rata basis.
 67. The system of claim 65 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 68. The system of claim 65, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 69. The system of claim 65 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 70. The system of claim 65 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 71. The system of claim 70 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 72. The system of claim 65 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier time stamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 73. The system of claim 65, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 74. The system of claim 65, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 75. The system of claim 65, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 76. The system of claim 65, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is am-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 77. The system of claim 65, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 78. The system of claim 65 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 79. The system of claim 65, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 80. The system of claim 65, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 81. The system of claim 65, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 82. The system of claim 65, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 83. The system of claim 65, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 84. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation information generated on the per-order basis is generated based on one or more of: an order price, an order time, an order size, and/or a pro-rata basis.
 85. The system of claim 84 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 86. The system of claim 84, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 87. The system of claim 84 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 88. The system of claim 84 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 89. The system of claim 88 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 90. The system of claim 84 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 91. The system of claim 84, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 92. The system of claim 84, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 93. The system of claim 84, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 94. The system of claim 84, wherein the operations further comprise: transmit, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 95. The system of claim 84, wherein the operations further comprise: provide the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 96. The system of claim 84 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 97. The system of claim 84, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 98. The system of claim 84, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 99. The system of claim 84, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 100. The system of claim 84, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 101. The system of claim 84, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 102. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: assembling the one or more orders directly from the one or more broker-dealers.
 103. The system of claim 102, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 104. The system of claim 102 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 105. The system of claim 102 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 106. The system of claim 105 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 107. The system of claim 102 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 108. The system of claim 102, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 109. The system of claim 102, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 110. The system of claim 102, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 111. The system of claim 102, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 112. The system of claim 102, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 113. The system of claim 102 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 114. The system of claim 102, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 115. The system of claim 102, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 116. The system of claim 102, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 117. The system of claim 102, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 118. The system of claim 102, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 119. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer platform utilizes existing order routing and/or management protocols to transmit, via at least one of the plurality of portals, electronic data regarding new issue securities offering information associated with the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 120. The system of claim 119 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 121. The system of claim 119 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using the existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 122. The system of claim 121 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 123. The system of claim 119 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 124. The system of claim 119, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 125. The system of claim 119, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 126. The system of claim 119, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 127. The system of claim 119, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 128. The system of claim 119, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 129. The system of claim 119 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 130. The system of claim 119, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 131. The system of claim 119, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 132. The system of claim 119, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 133. The system of claim 119, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 134. The system of claim 119, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 135. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with at least one existing order routing and management system of at least one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 136. The system of claim 135 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 137. The system of claim 136 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 138. The system of claim 135 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 139. The system of claim 135, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 140. The system of claim 135, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 141. The system of claim 135, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 142. The system of claim 135, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 143. The system of claim 135, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 144. The system of claim 135 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 145. The system of claim 135, wherein the operations further comprise: commence, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 146. The system of claim 135, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 147. The system of claim 135, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 148. The system of claim 135, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 149. The system of claim 135, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 150. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: connecting the at least one processor with one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system, such that the computer platform is configured for direct communication with the one or more of the at least one electronic order routing and management system using existing order routing and/or management protocols for order submission and for communicating subsequent information regarding status of the orders processed by the computer platform.
 151. The system of claim 150 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 152. The system of claim 150, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 153. The system of claim 150, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 154. The system of claim 150, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 155. The system of claim 150, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 156. The system of claim 150, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 157. The system of claim 150 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 158. The system of claim 150, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 159. The system of claim 150, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 160. The system of claim 150, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 161. The system of claim 150, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 162. The system of claim 150, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 163. The system of claim 150 wherein the existing order routing and/or management protocols include Financial Information eXchange protocols (FIX protocols).
 164. The system of claim 163 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 165. The system of claim 163, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 166. The system of claim 163, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 167. The system of claim 163, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 168. The system of claim 163, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 169. The system of claim 163, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 170. The system of claim 163 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 171. The system of claim 163, wherein the operations further comprise: commence, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 172. The system of claim 163, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 173. The system of claim 163, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 174. The system of claim 163, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 175. The system of claim 163, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 176. The system of claim 1 wherein the allocation information is generated for a plurality of the accepted orders giving priority to the accepted orders having timestamps denoting earlier receipt, such that the accepted orders having earlier timestamps are eligible for allocation at a greater percentage (fill rate) or proportion (fill amount) of an order amount than the accepted orders having later timestamps.
 177. The system of claim 176 wherein amending an order updates the timestamp information.
 178. The system of claim 176, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 179. The system of claim 176, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 180. The system of claim 176, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 181. The system of claim 176, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 182. The system of claim 176, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 183. The system of claim 176 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 184. The system of claim 176, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 185. The system of claim 176, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 186. The system of claim 176, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 187. The system of claim 176, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 188. The system of claim 176, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 189. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer platform terminates the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, either automatically by the computer platform based on preselected criteria or as initiated by the at least one lead agent.
 190. The system of claim 189, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 191. The system of claim 189, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 192. The system of claim 189, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 193. The system of claim 189, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 194. The system of claim 189 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 195. The system of claim 189, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 196. The system of claim 189, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 197. The system of claim 189, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 198. The system of claim 189, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 199. The system of claim 189, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 200. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the broker-dealer portal.
 201. The system of claim 200, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 202. The system of claim 200, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 203. The system of claim 200, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 204. The system of claim 200 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 205. The system of claim 200, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 206. The system of claim 200, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 207. The system of claim 200, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 208. The system of claim 200, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 209. The system of claim 200, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 210. The system of claim 1, wherein the allocation information and/or the one or more final listings are provided as outputs via the lead agent portal.
 211. The system of claim 210, wherein the outputs further include an indication of an amount of cash proceeds obligated to be delivered to an issuer of the at least one new issue securities offering after settlement.
 212. The system of claim 210, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 213. The system of claim 210, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 214. The system of claim 210 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 215. The system of claim 210, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 216. The system of claim 210, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 217. The system of claim 210, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 218. The system of claim 210, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 219. The system of claim 210, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 220. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: transmitting, during the closing of the at least one new issue securities offering, to respective ones of the one or more broker-dealers having one or more of the accepted orders, the allocation information that is firm-specific to each respective one of the one or more broker-dealers.
 221. The system of claim 220, wherein the allocation information that is firm-specific includes investor order information, based upon a final list of orders submitted by each of the respective ones, indicating to which investor, associated with the respective ones, each allocation of the allocation information is to be distributed.
 222. The system of claim 220, wherein the operations further comprise: providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 223. The system of claim 220 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 224. The system of claim 220, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 225. The system of claim 220, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 226. The system of claim 220, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 227. The system of claim 220, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 228. The system of claim 220, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 229. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise providing the broker-dealer portal, of the plurality of portals, to one or more subscribing broker-dealers during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings and the closing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, wherein the broker-dealer portal further comprises a table of orders, wherein, for each order in the table of orders, the table of orders further comprises data fields including two or more of a limit price, a number of shares, an order value, account information, and a timestamp generated for each order by the computer platform.
 230. The system of claim 229 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 231. The system of claim 229, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 232. The system of claim 229, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 233. The system of claim 229, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 234. The system of claim 229, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 235. The system of claim 229, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 236. The system of claim 1 wherein, for the associated new issue securities offering, the real-time offering information further comprises one or more of: a current number of shares associated with the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current cumulative number of shares associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; a current number of holders associated with the accepted orders per the plurality of price levels; a current amount of market value of the accepted orders, where said accepted orders have a limit price at or higher than the current indicative pricing; and/or an amount of time remaining until termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering.
 237. The system of claim 236, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 238. The system of claim 236, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 239. The system of claim 236, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 240. The system of claim 236, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 241. The system of claim 236, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 242. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: commencing, subsequent to termination of marketing of one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering, secondary market trading of the one or more of the at least one new issue securities offering.
 243. The system of claim 242, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 244. The system of claim 242, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 245. The system of claim 242, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 246. The system of claim 242, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 247. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: allowing at least one investor to submit offers comprised of all or part of the at least one investor's investment holdings in secondary securities related to the one or more new issue securities offerings; and routing the offers via the plurality of portals to the computer platform for further processing along with the one or more new issue securities offerings, such that the one or more new issue securities offerings being offered to the one or more investors include the investment holdings.
 248. The system of claim 247, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 249. The system of claim 247, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 250. The system of claim 247, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 251. The system of claim 1, wherein the current indicative pricing is established as an indicative clearing price, wherein the indicative clearing price is one price level, of the specific price levels, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold at time of the current indicative pricing.
 252. The system of claim 251, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 253. The system of claim 251, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 254. The system of claim 1, wherein the clearing price is a market demand and market-derived price, at which at least a minimum threshold of offered shares of the associated new issue securities offering can be sold.
 255. The system of claim 254, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 256. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the accepted orders is a good-until-canceled order eligible for further processing by the computer platform unless the computer platform receives and accepts a cancellation order associated with the good-until-canceled order, wherein the cancellation order is rejected as not acceptable, by the computer platform, if the cancellation order is not received prior to a deadline for submitting the cancellation order.
 257. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise publishing, via at least one of the plurality of portals, prior to termination of the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering, one or more pre-closing notices.
 258. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: publishing, via at least one of the plurality of portals, a notice informing the one or more broker-dealers and/or the general public that the marketing of the associated new issue securities offering has ended.
 259. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: conducting the one or more new issue securities offerings via only processing transactions from participants that submit their orders through the one or more broker-dealers, to thereby preserve, for the participants, investor protection benefits that are part of an existing, regulated industry in which the one or more broker-dealers are regulated representatives.
 260. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise one or both of: determining that at least one of the one or more orders is disruptive, manipulative or unreliable; and/or excluding one or more of the one or more orders determined to be disruptive, manipulative or unreliable.
 261. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: disseminating at least one of (i) a minimum offering metrics at or below which the offering will not be completed, and/or (ii) a maximum offering metrics above which the offering will not be increased.
 262. The system of claim 261, wherein the at least one of the minimum offering metrics and/or the maximum offering metrics are disseminated based on at least one of: a number of holders, an offering price, an amount of securities to be issued, an amount of assets collected, and/or an amount of cash proceeds realized by an issuing entity.
 263. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: comparing, prior to acceptance, each of the one or more orders against an amount, size, condition, and/or requirement established as a threshold by the at least one lead agent; and reject, any of the each of the one or more orders that fail to meet the threshold, as not acceptable for further processing by the computer platform.
 264. The system of claim 263, wherein the threshold comprises a maximum amount of the one or more orders' size.
 265. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one order received at the computer platform from the at least one electronic order routing and management system includes one or more identifiers containing origination data.
 266. The system of claim 1, wherein the first GUI further includes an order depth graph.
 267. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing a second graphical user interface (second GUI) to at least one computer associated with the one or more broker-dealers.
 268. The system of claim 267, wherein the second GUI further comprises a graphical user interface button, selection of which suspends one or more orders associated with a broker-dealer, suspends one or more orders associated with a particular offering, or suspends all orders associated with a particular offering.
 269. The system of claim 1 wherein the operations further comprise: providing information to the one or more broker-dealers, the one or more investors and/or the general public via one or more media outlets and/or financial websites such that the one or more broker-dealers, the one or more investors and/or the general public that already use said one or more media outlets and/or financial websites can also use said one or more media outlets and/or financial websites to attain the offering information.
 270. The system of claim 269 wherein, in connection with providing information to the general public via one or more media outlets and/or financial websites, the computer platform disseminates additional information at a same time including one or more of: (a) a total number of bids and amount of securities that were bid for at each price level, (b) a total number of bids and amount of securities bid for at or above the final offering price, and/or (c) a number of originating broker-dealers.
 271. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: processing orders received from at least one of the one or more broker-dealers, submitted for a broker-dealer's own account, as principal orders of the one or more orders, wherein the principal orders include an identifier marking the order as principal.
 272. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more orders are comprised of two or more of: at least one new order, at least one order amendment, and/or at least one order cancellation.
 273. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portal is a secure electronic portal that allows the one or more broker-dealers to access its respective data and information securely.
 274. The system of claim 1, wherein the second portal is a secure electronic portal that allows the at least one lead agent to access its respective data and information securely.
 275. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise three or more of: (i) providing equal access to the offering information to participating investors, via the informational portal, on a real-time basis, during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing, to the participating investors via the one or more broker-dealers, equal opportunity to place, amend and/or cancel each of the participating investors' own orders of the one or more orders; (iii) providing the allocation information on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size and/or pro-rata; and/or (iv) providing the first portal and the second portal as secure communication channels over which confidential information is securely transmitted and/or accessed via the at least one electronic order routing and management system associated with one or more broker-dealers and the at least one computer associated with the at least one lead agent; such that the participating investors are thereby involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner wherein equal access to all of the participating investors as well as fair, transparent and open participation and distribution of allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering are achieved.
 276. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise three or more of: (i) providing, on a real-time basis via the broker-dealer portal, equal access among the one or more broker-dealers to engage in brokering of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing the broker-dealer portal to subscribing ones of the one or more broker-dealers, such that respective investors of subscribing ones of the one or more broker dealers are provided equal access, to the one or more new issue securities offerings, as all other investors of the subscribing ones, and thereby enabling participation in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that is non-partisan and non-bundled; (iii) configuring the computer platform to allow the subscribing ones to maintain, with the respective investors of theirs, direct relationships, in which the computer platform will not interfere, and thereby maintain suitability, appropriateness and other investor protection; and/or (iv) transmitting information including allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering based upon orders accepted from each of participating investors, and associated investor distributions from the computer platform by a secure channel to each respective one of the subscribing ones for distribution to the participating investors to yield transparent, non-partisan new issue pricing, allocation and distribution; such that the subscribing ones are involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that affords equal access to all of the subscribing ones and respective investor clients of the subscribing ones, such that fair, transparent and open offerings are thereby provided in a non-partisan manner to all of the respective investor clients.
 277. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: (i) providing, on a real-time basis via the broker-dealer portal, equal access among the one or more broker-dealers to engage in brokering of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing the broker-dealer portal to subscribing ones of the one or more broker-dealers, such that respective investors of subscribing ones of the one or more broker dealers are provided equal access, to the one or more new issue securities offerings, as all other investors of the subscribing ones, and thereby enabling participation in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that is non-partisan and non-bundled; (iii) configuring the computer platform being allow the subscribing ones to maintain, with the respective investors of theirs, direct relationships, in which the computer platform will not interfere, and thereby maintain suitability, appropriateness and other investor protection; and (iv) transmitting information including allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering based upon orders accepted from each of participating investors, and associated investor distributions from the computer platform by a secure channel to each respective one of the subscribing ones for distribution to the participating investors to yield transparent, non-partisan new issue pricing, allocation and distribution; such that the subscribing ones arc involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that affords equal access to all of the subscribing ones and respective investor clients of the subscribing ones, such that fair, transparent and open offerings are thereby provided in a non-partisan manner to all of the respective investor clients.
 278. The system as in any one of claims 2 to 274, wherein the operations further comprise one or more of: (i) providing equal access to the offering information to participating investors, via the informational portal, on a real-time basis, during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing, to the participating investors via the one or more broker-dealers, equal opportunity to place, amend and/or cancel each of the participating investors' own orders of the one or more orders; (iii) providing the allocation information on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size and/or pro-rata; and/or (iv) providing the first portal and the second portal as secure communication channels over which confidential information is securely transmitted and/or accessed via the at least one electronic order routing and management system associated with one or more broker-dealers and the at least one computer associated with the at least one lead agent; such that the participating investors are thereby involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner wherein equal access to all of the participating investors as well as fair, transparent and open participation and distribution of allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering based upon orders accepted from each of the participating investors, are achieved.
 279. The system as in any one of claims 2 to 274, wherein the operations further comprise two or more of: (i) providing, on a real-time basis via the broker-dealer portal, equal access among the one or more broker-dealers to engage in brokering of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing the broker-dealer portal to subscribing ones of the one or more broker-dealers, such that respective investors of subscribing ones of the one or more broker dealers are provided equal access, to the one or more new issue securities offerings, as all other investors of the subscribing ones, and thereby enabling participation in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that is non-partisan and non-bundled; (iii) as a function of the computer platform being configured to allow the subscribing ones to maintain, with the respective investors of theirs, direct relationships, in which the computer platform will not interfere, to thereby maintain suitability, appropriateness and other investor protection; and/or (iv) transmitting information including allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering based upon orders accepted from each of participating investors, and associated investor distributions from the computer platform by a secure channel to each respective one of the subscribing ones for distribution to the participating investors to yield transparent, non-partisan new issue pricing, allocation and distribution; such that the subscribing ones are involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that affords equal access to all of the subscribing ones and respective investor clients of the subscribing ones, such that fair, transparent and open offerings are thereby provided in a non-partisan manner to all of the respective investor clients.
 280. The system as in any one of claims 2 to 274, wherein the operations further comprise three or more of: (i) providing, on a real-time basis via the broker-dealer portal, equal access among the one or more broker-dealers to engage in brokering of the one or more new issue securities offerings; (ii) providing the broker-dealer portal to subscribing ones of the one or more broker-dealers, such that respective investors of subscribing ones of the one or more broker dealers are provided equal access, to the one or more new issue securities offerings, as all other investors of the subscribing ones, and thereby enabling participation in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that is non-partisan and non-bundled; (iii) as a function of the computer platform being configured to allow the subscribing ones to maintain, with the respective investors of theirs, direct relationships, in which the computer platform will not interfere, to thereby maintain suitability, appropriateness and other investor protection; and/or (iv) transmitting information including allocations, of the at least one new issue securities offering based upon orders accepted from each of participating investors, and associated investor distributions from the computer platform by a secure channel to each respective one of the subscribing ones for distribution to the participating investors to yield transparent, non-partisan new issue pricing, allocation and distribution; such that the subscribing ones are involved in the one or more new issue securities offerings in a manner that affords equal access to all of the subscribing ones and respective investor clients of the subscribing ones, such that fair, transparent and open offerings are thereby provided in a non-partisan manner to all of the respective investor clients.
 281. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the operations further comprise: establishing a price for the one or more new issue securities offerings and/or level of investor interest by: providing, via the broker-dealer portal during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, equal access to offerings and information to the one or more broker-dealers; and providing, via the informational portal, during the marketing of the one or more new issue securities offerings, equal access to offerings and information to entities accessing the informational portal.
 282. The system of claim 281, wherein the establishing a price for the one or more new issue securities offerings and/or level of investor interest further includes: establishing, via the first portal, a communication channel between the computer platform and the one or more broker-dealers, wherein the communication channel uses protocols that connect broker-dealers to existing stock exchanges for secondary market trading orders to also provide for participation in new issue offerings, to thereby expand infrastructure used for secondary market trading orders to further include distribution of the one or more new issue securities offerings.
 283. The system of claim 282, wherein the establishing a price for the one or more new issue securities offerings and/or level of investor interest further includes: continually publishing, on a real time basis, updates of the current indicative pricing via the plurality of portals, to thereby provide price discovery information equally to the one or more broker-dealers, the one or more investors and the general public.
 284. The system of claim 283, wherein the allocation information is generated on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size, and/or pro-rata.
 285. The system of claim 282, wherein the allocation information is generated on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size, and/or pro-rata.
 286. The system of claim 281, wherein the allocation information is generated on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size, and/or pro-rata.
 287. The system of claim 281, wherein the establishing a price for the one or more new issue securities offerings and/or level of investor interest further includes: continually publishing, on a real time basis, updates of the current indicative pricing via the plurality of portals, to thereby provide price discovery information equally to the one or more broker-dealers, the one or more investors and the general public.
 288. The system of claim 287, wherein the allocation information is generated on a non-partisan (equal) basis based on one or more of order price, order time, order size, and/or pro-rata.
 289. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the operations further comprise: processing, individually/without bundling, investor orders received from one or more of the at least one computer associated with at least one lead agent via the plurality of portals, such that the one or more orders include the investor orders and thereby, as a function of the one or more orders being processed individually including generating the allocation information on the per-order basis, provide equal access to the one or more new issue securities offering to the one or more investors.
 290. The system of claim 289, wherein the computer platform also operates as a lead agent, such that the computer platform and the lead agent are not operated by distinct business entities.
 291. The system of claim 290, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent.
 292. The system of claim 289, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent.
 293. The system of claim 289, wherein the one or more orders comprise new orders, order amendments and order cancellations.
 294. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the computer platform also operates as a lead agent, such that the computer platform and the lead agent are not operated by distinct business entities.
 295. The system of claim 294, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent.
 296. The system of claim 294, wherein the one or more orders comprise new orders, order amendments and order cancellations.
 297. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the one or more orders received via the plurality of portals include orders received from the one or more broker-dealers and/or the at least one lead agent that are processed individually/without bundling by the computer platform, such that, as a function of the computer platform processing orders individually including generating the allocation information on the per-order basis, the computer platform provides equal access to the one or more new issue securities offerings to the one or more broker-dealers and the one or more investors.
 298. The system of claim 297, wherein the computer platform also operates as a lead agent, such that the computer platform and the lead agent are not operated by distinct business entities.
 299. The system of claim 298, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent.
 300. The system of claim 297, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent.
 301. The system of claim 297, wherein the one or more orders comprise new orders, order amendments and order cancellations.
 302. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the one or more orders comprise new orders, order amendments and order cancellations.
 303. The system as in any one of claims 1 to 277, wherein the offering price is set below the clearing price, either as a price that is more attractive than the clearing price or by receiving the offering price from the at least one lead agent. 